An elderly friend is going abroad over Christmas for 5 weeks to visit family, and wants to know what to do about his letterbox, which wont hold 5 weeks of mail and would rather give the game away if left stuffed with weeks old letters.
Poste Restante seems to only hold mail for two weeks.
What are the alternatives?
Have somebody with a key go in every couple of days and gather the post together in a pile on a table, or in a bag.
Keep Safe. Up to 66 days;
Build a big external mailbox, ours holds about 6cu ft of mail and crap.
Royal Mail Keepsafe stores incoming mail for up to 66 days.
Poste Restante is for travellers on the move needing a temporary address.
Owain
He needs to check his home insurance too. Many policies only cover absences of 30 days. Having someone go in to check the place is normally classed as sufficient by insurers.
And generally check things over. It's not just mail piling up that tells a neredowell a property is empty. You'd have thought that stating the bleeding obvious to one like Turnip who knows so much.
He also needs to turn off water and drain down tanks in loft. Including central heating. Also gas & electricity.
Empty freezers & fridges. Get rid of perishable food. Clean and leave doors open.
Hide/remove all valuable items.
Leaving houses empty this time of year is bad news.
Get someone to go in every few days & check the place out.
Scaremongering. The risks are minimal if you don't have a modern boiler. If you turn off the heating, you give yourself lots more problems, like having yo put anti freeze into toilets etc. BTDTGTTS!
I have (someone else) chest freezer that I haven't opened for a year now.
I certainly wouldn't turn off a freezer.
I'll be around to sort some of his stuff out, but not all the time.
One obvious alternative is to get a neighbour to collect the mail.
That's what we do.
If I can organise that for him, that is best. I wont be there myself
>
One useful and cheap thing is a couple of timers to switch lights on - one downstairs and one upstairs. Or in a couple of different rooms if a bungalow or flat on one level.
It's called "Keepsafe". The local sorting office will hold mail until you return. Collect form at any Post Office or look at Royal Mail's website
Yes.
As others have said, it's sensible to check and the insurance probably requires it.
Because any mail that comes through my letterbox ends up on the floor where it can be seen, when I go away for any time, I rig up a pillowcase behind the slot so that the mail drops into that and remains out of sight behind the door.
Nick
Well can you not redirect it or set it up as an alternate address say a uk relative. its done a lot for those going into hospital for long periods so it has to be possible though of course knowing the post office probably not free. Brian
What about setting up 'mail redirection' to a friend's house? It does;'t cost much. He can cancel it when he comes home again.
Robert
He has organised another neighbour to come in and put the mail in a safe place.
Just typed Royal mail hold post ...
They will hold mail for up to 60 days
Said solution now having been repeatedly mentioned.
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